Oldal 43 [43]
Seamus Heaneys Senseof Place ] 41
scenery. Nevertheless, his act of getting out of the car to appreciate the sur¬
rounding landscape indicates his recognition of his position as an observer
and the arbitrariness of his finding that particular spot. The bracketed remark
“a sign mistaken" suggests that the speaker ends up in the location by acci¬
dent, and the speaker’s admission that it is his "first stop / like this in years"?
lends a greater significance to the sight that compels him to stop. The signif¬
icance of the moment, its particularity in facilitating the vision requires the
propensity of the observer to be open to receive it, and the speaker acknowl¬
edges the role of “nonce / and happenstance” in the experience, illustrating
the proper lived sense of the place.
In “Ballynahinch Lake” Heaney describes a shared experience of a vision¬
ary moment in a particular location. The usual solitary position of the speaker
observing the place and receiving an enlightening experience in turn is re¬
placed by a shared moment with a companion. The title indicates a sufficiently
exact delineation of the place, complemented by its broader placing in Con¬
nemara, and there is also the temporal marker of "a Sunday morning"? yet
the temporal element is only partly specified. The sight, however, is accurately
detailed, both in terms of the stationary elements of the place and its changing
features that include wildlife as well as external conditions such as light. The
scene itself is recognised as vision:
[...] a captivating brightness held and opened
And the utter mountain mirrored in the lake
Entered us like a wedge knocked sweetly home
Into core timber.*®
The observation of a pair of waterbirds complements the picture, and the
speaker’s interpretation of their movements follows the implications of his
recognition of the visionary potential of the moment as the lift-off of the
birds is commented on as barely short of miraculous due to their status as
“air-heavers, far heavier than the air."
The consequence of the vision is a change in the observers yet the full ex¬
tent of that is not revealed. There is no proper description of the exact change
brought about but a vague suggestion of a moment of crossing which remains
ambiguous as to its duration, whether its scope is for the moment or it is a
more lasting one beyond that as well. The fact of the experience of sensing
some change, however, is acknowledged both by the speaker and his compan¬
ion, which points to the recognition of the significance of the location in fa¬
cilitating it. It is not only the consequence of the stop and the subsequent
12 Heaney, District and Circle, 44
13 Heaney, District and Circle, 44
44 Heaney, District and Circle, 44
15 Heaney, Electric Light, 26
16 Heaney, Electric Light, 26
4” Heaney, Electric Light, 26